New Year, New Economics?
For much of my semi-adult life, economics has stood out in my mind as a discipline that is, in its very maddening way, simultaneously practical and relevant but also opaque and confusing. The stock market is only now starting to make sense to me...well, I think. Perhaps I shouldn't put too much money on that. Or should I say, I won't invest in that option. Who knows?
But ever since participating in a wonderful Manna and Mercy retreat at Duke upon the conclusion of my first year of study, I have been burdened by the sense that Christian theology and discipleship must shape me to take economics seriously. I realized that most of us who claim Christ's Lordship have not asserted it adequately when matters of GDP or personal finance arise. Sure, we believe in simple and accessible virtues such as generosity and moderation in our consumption of the world's goods, but economics appears too complex to us for us to attain systematic and articulate rigor. So it seems we adopt slogans from our trained positions on the political spectrum without really knowing what they mean or if they're true. That is, a Christian who tends to be politically conservative may talk of trickle-down economics and will assert that "a rising tide lifts all boats." A Christian who tends to be politically liberal speaks the language of class warfare and "two Americas."
Imagining that the free market and socialism are the only viable options for a sensible economics that will generate wealth and prosperity, we quickly find ourselves stuck. Soviet-style economies fell apart in the twentieth century and the countries that still carry the socialist banner are plagued by poverty, corruption, and authoritarian rule. Yet unmitigated capitalism is spiritually corrosive. Here in the United States, we are increasingly plagued by materialism, socioeconomic divisions, and monetary evaluations of success and happiness. Meanwhile, our sense of community and place is shattered by our status as a mobile - and upwardly-mobile - culture. And we're not any happier for our outstanding wealth.
Does the Christian tradition offer an alternative to this catch-22? I am growing more hopeful that it does - and that this alternative is sensible and applicable and not merely an otherworldly utopianism. I do not believe that a Christian take on economics is going to win the day anytime soon, or perhaps anytime ever - but I think it calls for us to present a critique to our prevailing social and cultural assumptions when it comes to money and resources. This is part of what leaders in the "New Monastic" movement call living on the fringes of Empire. What are some of the voices that give me hope?
1. Catholic Social Teaching and "Distributism." - I first learned about distributism this past summer while living at Koinonia. It all began when a fair-trade coffee roaster who operates out of Americus, GA, spoke one evening at the church where I worshiped. When asked about living an alternative economics, he suggested we read Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher. The book appeared nearly thirty years ago and was a critique of traditional assumptions by a major economist in Britain. Google searches on Schumacher led to the discovery of a group of generally traditionalist Catholics who speak favorably of him, as he was a convert to Catholicism and his economic ideals reflect their own thoughts. The distributists take their cues from a set of papal encyclicals written around the turn of the twentieth century and from the writings of G.K. Chesterton, among others. In short, distributism favors the broad distribution of property and capital and encourages the development of fairly self-sufficient local economies.
See The ChesterBelloc Mandate for one helpful and thorough distributist site.
2. Neo-Agrarianism - I'm a born and raised city-slicker, and so when I first heard the term "agrarian" the natural suspicion of my kind bubbled up in my thoughts. I imagined nostalgic idealists who romanticized farming and who ignored the educational and economic difficulties of rural living while despising the cultural and social opportunities afforded by cities. This shallow critique can be readily found anywhere one may turn, but ultimately it's just not true. Yes, agrarians like Wendell Berry highly value farming as a cultural and even spiritual practice, but their goal isn't to empty the cities and destroy professional vocations that don't involve hoeing weeds. Rather, the main objective is to reorient our cultural terrain so that everyone - rural, urban, and suburban - appreciates and values our undeniable dependence upon, and connection with, soil and air, flora and fauna. Of course, agrarianism goes deeper than this, with concrete interest in renewing agriculture, conserving land, and reconstructing community life. I've recently discovered that the agrarians and the distributists are essentially on the same page, even though they may have somewhat different emphases. The agrarians, for example, give more attention to restoring family or community farming.
I recommend reading The Essential Agrarian Reader.
There's more that could be said, but since I haven't posted anything in a while, I'll just go with this and introduce more as I keep learning, studying, and reflecting.
But ever since participating in a wonderful Manna and Mercy retreat at Duke upon the conclusion of my first year of study, I have been burdened by the sense that Christian theology and discipleship must shape me to take economics seriously. I realized that most of us who claim Christ's Lordship have not asserted it adequately when matters of GDP or personal finance arise. Sure, we believe in simple and accessible virtues such as generosity and moderation in our consumption of the world's goods, but economics appears too complex to us for us to attain systematic and articulate rigor. So it seems we adopt slogans from our trained positions on the political spectrum without really knowing what they mean or if they're true. That is, a Christian who tends to be politically conservative may talk of trickle-down economics and will assert that "a rising tide lifts all boats." A Christian who tends to be politically liberal speaks the language of class warfare and "two Americas."
Imagining that the free market and socialism are the only viable options for a sensible economics that will generate wealth and prosperity, we quickly find ourselves stuck. Soviet-style economies fell apart in the twentieth century and the countries that still carry the socialist banner are plagued by poverty, corruption, and authoritarian rule. Yet unmitigated capitalism is spiritually corrosive. Here in the United States, we are increasingly plagued by materialism, socioeconomic divisions, and monetary evaluations of success and happiness. Meanwhile, our sense of community and place is shattered by our status as a mobile - and upwardly-mobile - culture. And we're not any happier for our outstanding wealth.
Does the Christian tradition offer an alternative to this catch-22? I am growing more hopeful that it does - and that this alternative is sensible and applicable and not merely an otherworldly utopianism. I do not believe that a Christian take on economics is going to win the day anytime soon, or perhaps anytime ever - but I think it calls for us to present a critique to our prevailing social and cultural assumptions when it comes to money and resources. This is part of what leaders in the "New Monastic" movement call living on the fringes of Empire. What are some of the voices that give me hope?
1. Catholic Social Teaching and "Distributism." - I first learned about distributism this past summer while living at Koinonia. It all began when a fair-trade coffee roaster who operates out of Americus, GA, spoke one evening at the church where I worshiped. When asked about living an alternative economics, he suggested we read Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher. The book appeared nearly thirty years ago and was a critique of traditional assumptions by a major economist in Britain. Google searches on Schumacher led to the discovery of a group of generally traditionalist Catholics who speak favorably of him, as he was a convert to Catholicism and his economic ideals reflect their own thoughts. The distributists take their cues from a set of papal encyclicals written around the turn of the twentieth century and from the writings of G.K. Chesterton, among others. In short, distributism favors the broad distribution of property and capital and encourages the development of fairly self-sufficient local economies.
See The ChesterBelloc Mandate for one helpful and thorough distributist site.
2. Neo-Agrarianism - I'm a born and raised city-slicker, and so when I first heard the term "agrarian" the natural suspicion of my kind bubbled up in my thoughts. I imagined nostalgic idealists who romanticized farming and who ignored the educational and economic difficulties of rural living while despising the cultural and social opportunities afforded by cities. This shallow critique can be readily found anywhere one may turn, but ultimately it's just not true. Yes, agrarians like Wendell Berry highly value farming as a cultural and even spiritual practice, but their goal isn't to empty the cities and destroy professional vocations that don't involve hoeing weeds. Rather, the main objective is to reorient our cultural terrain so that everyone - rural, urban, and suburban - appreciates and values our undeniable dependence upon, and connection with, soil and air, flora and fauna. Of course, agrarianism goes deeper than this, with concrete interest in renewing agriculture, conserving land, and reconstructing community life. I've recently discovered that the agrarians and the distributists are essentially on the same page, even though they may have somewhat different emphases. The agrarians, for example, give more attention to restoring family or community farming.
I recommend reading The Essential Agrarian Reader.
There's more that could be said, but since I haven't posted anything in a while, I'll just go with this and introduce more as I keep learning, studying, and reflecting.
Labels: Discipleship
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